Women Correctional Officers in California, 1979 (ICPSR 8684)

Principal Investigator(s):
Holeman, Herbert;
Krepps-Hess, Barbara J.

Summary:

This study examined women correctional officers working in
the 11 institutions for men operated by the California Department of
Corrections in 1979. For Part 1, Census, researchers conducted a
census of all 386 female correctional officers working in these
institutions to collect demographic characteristics and baseline
data. For Parts 2 (Staff) and 3 (Inmate), a survey was administered to
staff and inmates asking their opinions about differences in
performance between male and female correctional officers. Part 4,
Profile, contains demographic and background data for the officers
participating in the Part 2 survey. For Parts 5 (Female) and 6 (Male),
researchers gathered job performance data for female correctional
officers in 7 of the 11 institutions, as well as a matched sample of
male correctional officers. Variables in Parts 1 and 4-6 include
demographic information such as age, ethnicity, marital status, number
of children, and educational and occupational history. Other variables
measure attributes such as age, weight, and height, and record career
information such as date and location of permanent assignment as a
correctional officer, any breaks in service, and other criminal
justice work experience. Additional variables in Parts 5 and 6 include
job performance measures, such as ratings on skills, knowledge, work
habits, learning ability, overall work habits, quality and quantity of
work, and commendations. Parts 2 and 3 present information on staff
and inmate evaluations of male and female correctional officers
performing specific roles, such as control work officer, yard officer,
or security squad officer. Additional variables include opinions on
how well male and female officers handled emergency situations,
maintained control under stress, and used firearms when
necessary. Questions were also asked about whether inmates' or
officers' safety was endangered with female officers, whether women
should be hired as correctional officers, and whether female officers
were gaining acceptance in correctional facilities.

This study examined women correctional officers working in
the 11 institutions for men operated by the California Department of
Corrections in 1979. For Part 1, Census, researchers conducted a
census of all 386 female correctional officers working in these
institutions to collect demographic characteristics and baseline
data. For Parts 2 (Staff) and 3 (Inmate), a survey was administered to
staff and inmates asking their opinions about differences in
performance between male and female correctional officers. Part 4,
Profile, contains demographic and background data for the officers
participating in the Part 2 survey. For Parts 5 (Female) and 6 (Male),
researchers gathered job performance data for female correctional
officers in 7 of the 11 institutions, as well as a matched sample of
male correctional officers. Variables in Parts 1 and 4-6 include
demographic information such as age, ethnicity, marital status, number
of children, and educational and occupational history. Other variables
measure attributes such as age, weight, and height, and record career
information such as date and location of permanent assignment as a
correctional officer, any breaks in service, and other criminal
justice work experience. Additional variables in Parts 5 and 6 include
job performance measures, such as ratings on skills, knowledge, work
habits, learning ability, overall work habits, quality and quantity of
work, and commendations. Parts 2 and 3 present information on staff
and inmate evaluations of male and female correctional officers
performing specific roles, such as control work officer, yard officer,
or security squad officer. Additional variables include opinions on
how well male and female officers handled emergency situations,
maintained control under stress, and used firearms when
necessary. Questions were also asked about whether inmates' or
officers' safety was endangered with female officers, whether women
should be hired as correctional officers, and whether female officers
were gaining acceptance in correctional facilities.

Access Notes

The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public.
Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

Methodology

Sample:
Part 1 was a department-wide census of every female
correctional officer working in 11 California male inmate
institutions. For Parts 2 and 4, officer survey responses and profile
data were collected from male and female correctional officers in
seven institutions. A proportionate stratified random sample was
conducted, using the seniority listing of correctional officers. The
sample was stratified by sex and institution to be representative of
all correctional officers in California. Within each strata, 10
percent of the officers were selected. For Part 3, survey responses
were gathered from structured attitude questionnaires given to 400
inmates from 7 institutions. The selection was made from 75 percent of
the mainline inmates out of a population of 25,838 male felons. For
Parts 5 and 6, job performance data from 168 female correctional
officers were matched (using age and job tenure) with 168 male
correctional officers. Only 7 of the 11 institutions were used, since
4 of the institutions employed less than 24 female officers. For this
reason, 24 women and 24 men were selected from each of these 7
institutions. For those institutions employing more than 24 women
officers, a random-digit table was used to select 24 women.

Data Source:

personnel records, and self-enumerated questionnaires

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

Standardized missing values.

Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release: 1987-10-12

Version History:

2006-03-30 File CB8684.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.

2005-11-04 On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one
or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well
as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable,
and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to
reflect these additions.

2000-09-25 ICPSR reformatted the data, recoded system missing,
and checked for undocumented codes. SAS and SPSS data definition
statements were also created for this collection by ICPSR. A revised
codebook, including a data completeness report, was created by ICPSR,
which now includes the former Part 1, Study Information, file that had
been listed on the ICPSR Website. As a result, the data files have
been renumbered from the order in which they were presented on the
website. In addition, the principal investigators' original hardcopy
documentation was converted to Portable Document Format (PDF).